Case Study for the Regulation of Financial Institutions

 

Law students present a case study to their peers, simulating real-world cases young lawyers might face.

Introduction: This series of case studies is used to teach Regulation of Financial Institutions. It is designed to give students practical experience, and as such qualifies as experiential-learning credit under recently established American Bar Association requirements. Case materials can be found here

Goals: The learning goals of using the case studies in this course were to:

(1) give students a deeper look into some emerging and contested area of financial regulation

(2) provide students an opportunity to dig into statutory and regulatory materials that are summarized in more general terms in an accompanying textbook

(3) introduce students to the kind of work that they might actually be expected to do as young attorneys

Procedure - Before Class: Students are broken into small teams of two or three and each group is assigned one case to present during the semester. They are instructed to create a PowerPoint to help lead the discussion and are given a maximum slide limit. To prepare this presentation, students must read the full set of material associated with that case (a memorandum (~20 pages) and any additional files (~100 pages). Other students who are not leading the case that week are instructed to read the memorandum only.

Procedure - During Class: During class, the students present their presentation and field questions from their classmates. The team leads the class through a discussion on topical issues in financial law that they could be faced with as a young lawyer in private practice, government work, or other fields of financial law. This allows the law students to get practical exposure to a variety of types of law and qualifies as experiential-learning credit under recently established American Bar Association requirements. After the presentation the class votes on the course of best action.

Procedure - After Class: After the discussion and voting, Professor Jackson summarizes the key points from the discussion. Additionally, the instructor promptly gives feedback to the students that presented after class on both their analysis as well as their presentation/communication.

Materials – Preparation of Case Studies: Born from a collaboration with Professor Peter Tufano (then of Harvard Buisness School), Professor Jackson and his colleague Meg Tahyar have created a series of Financial Law Case studies available online. To create these cases, Professor Jackson turned to real cases he encountered in practice. He emphasizes that having real and relevant material for a case is essential to peak student’s enthusiasm. After designing a case, he tests it with students and iteratively improves/clarifies the case over several years. This refinement process is important to ensure clarity in the case and to make sure that the key takeaways are highlighted effectively. Click here for access to the case studies:  https://h2o.law.harvard.edu/playlists/27055